Citrus Tilapia and Herb Roasted White Potatoes with Lemon Pepper Broccoli Spears

Dinner tonight is not rocket science.  Due to the 1st grade Spring Concert happening at 6:45 (and making it home from work just shy of 5) its a hurried affair, and after last nights Gyro fiasco I decided that something a little more familiar would do nicely.  So Citrus Tilapia and Roasted Potatoes it is.  I like to incorporate fish into our dining when at all possible, but to be honest, we are not huge fish fans (except for sushi, which seems a little odd if you think about it) at our house, so tilapia is perfect.  Its a super light textured white fish with a great mild flavor (which means my kids will eat it) and I can add orange juice (which means my kids will eat it!.) It cooks up quickly and I get to use my new Calphalon Pans so its a winner all the way. The roasted potatoes are really simple.  No recipe there.  I just chopped up some baby white potatoes into bite size pieces, added a couple tablespoons of good olive oil, which-- if you are even mildly serious about cooking you will spend a few extra bucks on, quality really makes a difference in olive oil (and balsamic vinegar as well, but that's for a different post) -- and shook them up in a zippy bag with a packet of Italian herb and cheese mix.  Roast for 30 minutes at 400 degrees on a pammed (come on, if something can be googled it can be pammed) baking sheet and viola!

The recipe for the fish is pretty simple, using mostly stuff you have on hand.  Lemon juice from a bottle would probably be fine, but I used a fresh lemon and sliced it into wedges after I squeezed it.  It was really pretty as garnish for the fish (and my kids love to eat lemon rind and all -- I figure, what the heck, its a fruit!)

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Easy and great!  The kids loved it, the hubby loved it, it was easy to make, relatively inexpensive, and quick!   No pizza tonight!

RECIPE:
 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound tilapia fillets
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice or high-quality store-bought orange juice
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced *I don't have a zester. I use the fine part of my cheese grater and it works just as well, just make sure you don't get into the white bitter part!*
• 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Preparation: 

1. On a plate, combine the flour and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Lightly dredge the tilapia in the flour. *For the non cooks out there, this just means to coat the fish very lightly in flour*
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, add the oil and butter. *If you are using cookware that is not non-stick like I do, espescially stainless, preheat the pan at medium heat for a few minutes before you add oil.  It will help keep the food from sticking* When the butter has melted, add the fish and cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until golden and just cooked through. Remove the fish and set aside.
3. Add the orange juice, 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice, and the ginger to the skillet. Increase the heat and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Taste and add lemon zest or more lemon juice if necessary. Return the fish to the skillet, coat with sauce, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until heated through.

Lamb Gyros withTzatziki Sauce

Alright, dinner tonight was Gyros (pronunciation guide here). I hate when people mispronounce the word gyro. I served steak fries as the side, but they are frozen and come from a bag and need no prep. Don't judge me.

Lessons I learned today:

• Make sure you have all of the ingredients on hand (I had to run to the store last minute to buy rosemary, though I did find a great deal on red wine goblets while I was there, and picked up some flowers too. Yep, would've been much less expensive to have just had the rosemary before I started cooking.)
• Your hands are going to be stinky. You are wringing out onions with tea towels and smooshing raw ground meat with garlic and herbs. So, wear latex gloves...or if you don't want to feel like you are getting ready to give a prostate exam you can also wash your hands then rub them on something stainless steel like a spoon or a sink (they also make stainless steel eggs for this purpose.)  
• Always, always allow lots of extra time for new recipes...and have a backup plan. Like pizza. Or Dog and Shake in today's case.

OVERALL IMPRESSION (I'll include this in every blog right above the recipe, in case you don't want to read through the whole recipe):  Dinner was great, but not worth the work and effort it took to make these from scratch, when you can run down to the local gyro shop for $6.00.  At 7:10 (we were supposed to be eating at 6:30) I finally ran out to Dog and Shake and picked up dinner for the kids so we could get their bedtime routine started (ah, what a perfect first entry.) and at 7:30 I finally sliced the meat and put it under the broiler for a few minutes to finish up the pink center (which worked quite well).  Next time I will try a ground beef/pork mixture. The tzatziki sauce however; was awesome.  Perfect blend of cool and spicy, and I will use this in lots of recipes to come.  END OF STORY:  IF YOU ARE GOING TO TRY THIS RECIPE ALLOW LOTS OF EXTRA TIME!

In this and future posts I will be experimenting with the best way to add notes to recipes.  Today, I'll add the notes in italics and set off by Asterisks’.

OK, the recipe (from Alton Brown by the way): 

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped or shredded
• 2 pounds ground lamb *I'm going to try this with 1/2 ground beef, 1/2 ground pork next time*
• 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon dried marjoram
• 1 tablespoon dried ground rosemary
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt *I use kosher salt in almost recipe that calls for salt*
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Tzatziki Sauce, recipe follows *I made this about 10 hours ahead of time and it was still great*

Directions

Process the onion in a food processor for 10 to 15 seconds and turn out into the center of a tea towel. *Flour sack towels worked really well for this - warning, its super smelly*

Gather up the ends of the towel and squeeze until almost all of the juice is removed. Discard juice.

Return the onion to the food processor and add the lamb, garlic, marjoram, rosemary, salt, and pepper and process until it is a fine paste, approximately 1 minute. Stop the processor as needed to scrape down sides of bowl. *This worked, but I would mix the meat and spices first and process in 2 batches next time.  I have a great food processor with a 10 cup bowl and it was still difficult*

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. *If you are serving white wine with dinner, stick it in the fridge now* Place the mixture into a loaf pan, making sure to press into the sides of the pan. Place the loaf pan into a water bath. *just in case you don't know, a water bath is just a pan of water you place the meatloaf in to add moisture -- I used a glass casserole pan*  Bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until the mixture reaches 165 to 170 degrees F. Remove from the oven and drain off any fat.  *ok.  i should've used my oven safe meat thermometer from the beginning and so should you. i pulled the meat at 145 and discarded the fats, then had to put it back in the oven, this time with the meat thermometer but no fat, so it dried out more than it would have*  Place the loaf pan on a cooling rack and place a brick wrapped in aluminum foil directly on the surface of the meat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes, *this is a perfect time to start your french fries, or salad if you prefer, take a couple Excedrin and open a bottle of red wine to let it breath, go ahead and chop the onion and tomato and crumble the cheese* , until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees F. *not sure why but the loaf didn't heat up when it was sitting it cooled down...i put it back in for a few minutes? hmmm...ideas? Alton?* Slice and serve on pita bread with tzatziki sauce, chopped onion, tomatoes and feta cheese.

About Me

I burn things. I add too much salt and sometimes switch baking powder for baking soda (turns out they're not basically the same thing.) I've been known to accidentally broil things when you are supposed to bake them and I have a penchant for eating so much of the brownie batter that I have to alter the cooking time of the final product. And I can't seem to cook rice without a crunch.  Even so, I love to cook. And I love to eat. Mostly, I love for people to love what I cook.

Barring cooking mishaps, which "hap" often enough around here; I've become a decent cook in the last five years. I make great homemade pasta sauces and I've perfected the Old El Paso chicken enchilada (the recipe is on the can.)  But I'm ready to branch out and go a bit more gourmet. I like things with fancy names like Gnocchi Nicoise (turns out its just potato noodles with olives and tomato sauce) and Thinly Sliced Traditional Crubeen Maris Piper..actually, I probably wouldn't cook that. Its a pig leg. Whole. 

This might be a bumpy road, but I expect to learn a lot and share it all.  In any case, I'm on a mission to become an amateur gourmet.  I'll post recipes, photos and videos, along with successes and failures...and the number of a few good pizza delivery places.